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The Echoes of History Crystal Skull Kingdom was a relatively small empire that had managed to become a member of the World Government despite its size because of its wealth. Befitting its name, the kingdom was home to several rare and precious jewels that its citizens had mined for centuries, and had yet to truly even begin to dwindle their incredible reserves of minerals. These gems were usually fashioned into jewelry that were sold at titanic prices, but also were given and sold to scientist, the World Government, and whoever else as material to use in their parts for machinery. Because of its wealth, Crystal Skull was a popular tourist destination that attracted people from all over the world who desired to purchase clothes bedazzled in rare gems, as well as witness natural landscapes and canyons of diamond and crystal that the country was built upon. As much as Laszlo enjoyed sight seeing, alcohol, and good food, he unfortunately had no time for any of those things. Since he arrived to Crystal Skull nearly three days ago, Laszlo hadn't done much of anything except to pinpoint the location of an Instructional Poneglyph that he had heard was somewhere on this island. Most of the populace of Crystal Skull was unaware that Poneglyphs even existed, and even those who were aware of their existence didn't realize that there was actually one on Crystal Skull. From his research, Laszlo had only determined the location of the Poneglyph due to being in close proximity of one of the ministers of Crystal Skull, who had expressed concern over someone accidently finding the Poneglyph during the Crystal Festival. Every year, Crystal Skull hosted a festival where visitors from all over could explore the infamous Crystal Cavern which housed literal tons of diamonds, crystals, sapphires, rubies, etc., The floors of the caverns were composed of them. Usually, because the deeper portions of the cavern were used as mining grounds, it was closed to the public. However, once a year, the monarch of Crystal Skull ceased operations and secured the cavern so that everyone could appreciate its beauty, as well as charge for entry into a natural beauty. Laszlo had paid his fair share to enter the cavern, but had long since splintered off down the narrow pathway from the main group nearly minutes into the tour. Hours had passed since his initial arrival, and after what seemed to be an endless descent, Laszlo arrived to a massive room, where the Poneglyph rested, having been chained into the diamond floor bed of the cave. He smirked. "Ah, there you go. My beauty!" However, it was at that moment, Laszlo's prize began to shrink. Its size becoming smaller and smaller until, eventually, it was nothing but a small cube. The perpetrator, a relatively tall man in a white suit, reached down and picked up the Poneglyph, placing it into his pocket. "I told you it would work!" A voice from behind the pirate sounded. A woman with green hair and matching eyes walked down the path. She wore similar attire to the man. "Wow! What a catch! You're a pretty infamous pirate, aren't you? Let's have a little chat." "Eh?" Laszlo inquired, stepping forward as the Poneglyph dissipated into nothing. "W-Who the hell are you two? Don't tell me you're with that minister or something, because I can explain. I got lost on the way down, fell down a ledge...I mean, look at me, I'm clean as shit, but that's only because I fell on my back. My back is dirty you see. You just can't see it." "Please," said the woman, "calm down sir, we're just here to have a friendly chat. My name's Bulls Zy. The man over there is my partner, Lester." The man grave a brief wave. Then, at the speeds imperceivable to the human eye, he was next to his partner. "We can have a civil discussion, can't we?" Laszlo reached into his pocket, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He cupped his hands around the cigarette as the flame sparked into existence, igniting his stick of nicotine. He inhaled and exhaled the deep hum of smoke. "Of course we can, Zy and Lester," Laszlo replied. "But what exactly do you two want to talk about, eh? And shit, do you have any seats down here? My ass is tired from standin….I mean, falling down here." Zy chuckled. "Lester, do you have any chairs on you by any chance?" The stoic man nodded, throwing up three small objects into the air. "Keigen: Kaijo." They returned to their original size, three wooden chairs landing perfectly onto the cavern floor. Zy motioned to the single chair, which had landed just in front of Laszlo, inviting him to sit down. The CP-0 agents sat in theirs, which were right next to each other. "So," Zy began, "there's only one reason I expect you would've come here, and that would be to read the Poneglyph. While this is a major tourist attraction, most of the populace don't even know about this chamber. And I think we both know you didn't arrive here on accident." Laszlo, having taken his seat, leaned forward slightly as he exhaled. "The fuck is a....what you call it? Ponefyx?" Zy's green eyes suddenly turned a crimson red. The more jovial attitude she had possessed beforehand all but disappeared. "Don’t bullshit me Laszlo." Her serious expression disappeared almost as quickly as it had come. With a brief shake of her head, she was back to her original grin, although her sharp teeth were much more prominent than before and her eyes remained crimson. She looked almost like she wanted to eat him. "The object my colleague stored. The thing you were just looking at, that's a Poneglyph." "And here we go," Laszlo replied. "To think you hid for so long that you knew my identity. Wouldn't befit someone like you right? Of course it wouldn't. You both know who you are, and you know who I am. So, the question is simple, isn't it? Why are we all here, in this room, right now?" "Well, if I'm being honest, we didn't know for sure you'd be the one to show up. We just figured it would be a good opportunity to find a Poneglyph reader to extend this offer to." Zy leaned forward in her chair, giving Laszlo a wink. "Would you like to start working for the World Government as a Poneglyph reader?" Laszlo leaned backwards in his chair. "Hmm, so the Cipher Pol are that desperate nowadays, huh? So much that you'd ask a pirate worth 400,000,000 to work for you....What's in it for me? No way you can offer to make me a Shichibukai or anything like that. What's the big catch?" "No catch," said Zy, "your bounty will be frozen and you'll be sent to work with our deciphering team." Lester tapped her on the shoulder. "Alright, there is one catch. You won't be allowed in the public eye until our ultimate goal has been accomplished. And you can't take anyone with you... Two catches." "No deal, Zy. I got people to take care of right now. They need me to be there; to be willing to provide and work for them," Laszlo responded, "I bet you guys already know that I'm no longer with the Notch Pirates, or the Xros Pirates anymore. I'm a member of the Revelation Pirates, which is under the immediate rule of Faraday Julia. They need me if they're going to survive on these seas out here, you know." "Are you sure about that?" Zy said, "nothing we can do to change your mind?" Lester had already gotten up from his chair, folding it up before shrinking it down and putting it in his pocket. "Depends on what you could do, Zy." Laszlo flicked the last bit of his cigarette onto the diamond floor-bed of the cavern. "What could you do to for my current situation, eh?" "Well you see," Zy stood up from her chair as well, "we weren't given any more room negotiate. If you understand what I mean." Lester shrunk down Zy's chair as well and pocketed it. He faced Laszlo. His stoic face seemed much more menacing now. Laszlo sighed. "So then, the deal is to take it or leave it then." "That would be correct," said Zy. "This will be your last opportunity to take it." Laszlo stood up from his chair. "Then, how about I take it and meet you guys at that island in three days, eh?" Zy smirked. "Very well then. Lester, give it to him." Lester took the Poneglyph out of his pocket throwing it into the air for Laszlo to catch. "Keigen: Kaijo." The Poneglyph suddenly returned to its original size over Laszlo's head, the sudden weight causing it to fall down with a high degree of acceleration. "You don't seriously think you'll be walking out of here by yourself, do you?" "Oh no!" Laszlo shrieked, throwing his hands up above his head defensively as the Poneglyph fell upon his body, seemingly crushing him. There was a moment of silence that proceeded, before he his body simply phased through the side of the massive slab of unique stone, a smirk plastered on his face. "You didn't really think that you were going to crush me with some bullshit like that, did you? Haven't you heard about me? I can hear everything. The voices of my swords, the voices of the Poneglyph, animals...even your voices," he explained, tapping his head playfully. "Well, I can do that with a little bit of that and some Kenbunshoku you know....So, I'll give you two the opportunity to let me get out of here, in exchange for your lives." "Oh, you can hear my voice?" said Zy playfully, "guess I forgot to turn that off." And just like that, silence. Every bit of her aura was more than suppressed. He was looking right at her, but it was as if she wasn't even there. "Lester, go get the Poneglyph please. I'll be done with him in a second." She began rummaging in her suit jack, pulling out several small daggers. They turned black, the power of her Haki. She threw the daggers, seemingly headed straight for Lester. It seemed insane, but her aura was unreadable. No one had any idea what she was doing. And, just like that, the blades curved around Lester, headed straight for their true target, each one aimed for a vital location. Meanwhile, Lester walked up to the Poneglyph, nonchalantly, practically ignoring both fighters as he touched it, shrinking the Poneglyph back down to the size of a small cube, before putting it back in his pocket. Laszlo unsheathed Shusui from its sheathe skillfully, using but a single motion upwards across his body to deflect the daggers imbued with her Busoshoku Haki. Somehow, she had managed to mask her thoughts, and her aura; both of which were impressive, but when dealing with the Cipher Pol, there was nothing to be surprised about. Although Laszlo didn't know much about them, his years of running from their agents had taught him that they were always being innovative. After all, they had to stay ahead of the game everywhere if they were going to serve as the World Government's dogs. They were the assassins, the dealmakers, the patriots...they were everything. The marines were just a face for the World Government. These guys, well, they were the real threat. "Shusui, come!" Laszlo called out, swinging his blade forward. In the moment that he did, the blackened metal ignited into flames upon command, spewing a wave of fire that was flung towards Zy. Zy had already read his movements with her own Haki. She didn't even attempt to dodge, simply taking out more of her own daggers before throwing them into the air again. They slammed into the daggers Laszlo had deflected, redirecting all of them towards his body from above, each one still imbued with Haki. Twice as many daggers now rained down upon him, just as his attack landed. Lester moved through the smoke cloud that was created, checking on his partner. As the smoke cleared, it became evident that Zy was unharmed, save for her clothing. "You bitch! Do you have any idea how much these uniforms cost!" Laszlo ushered Busoshoku Haki through his own body in the moment that the daggers struck, while simultaneously activating the powers of his Horo Horo no Mi to temporarily embody the traits and aspects of ghost, thereby becoming intangible just as he once did before. By using the Busoshoku to counteract the Busoshoku in the daggers, they passed through him just as they did before. Still, there was something unusual about this woman. "What the fuck? You took that shit to the face like a champ, huh?" "Please," Zy said as she took out two boomerang-shaped blades, "if you consider that hot, there's no way that you can beat me." "Soru!" Lester charged directly at Laszlo, faster than the eye could see. Taking advantage of her partner's move, Zy flew her blades, them, too, disappearing as they matched Lester's speed, traveling around him. The first blade was intended to cut each of Laszlo's Achilles tendons. The second was aimed to slit his throat. The blades would reach their target first, at which point, Lester would take advantage of the time he would need to take to defend himself. His arm, blackened by the strength of his Busoshoku Haki, would grasp onto Shusui and with one word, "Keigen!" he'd begin to shrink it. Laszlo responded to Zy's blades by flipping forward, dodging the projectiles by moving from his spot. Fortunately, Lester hadn't managed to mask his presence, thereby Laszlo could hear everything from the movement of his muscles, to the voice inside his head. "Shusui," Laszlo muttered as he completed his flip, allowing the blackened blade to explode in a wreathe of flames as Lester's hand neared it, seeking to encompass everything in the immediate area in a sheet of fire. The flames enveloped Lester's body. It was powerful, strong. He did the best he could to protect himself from the flames, his entire front half becoming imbued with Haki. Yet, when the smoke cleared, he was gone. If Zy didn't know any better, she would've assumed he was completely disintegrated. "Jugon!" It sounded so tiny and faint, but the force behind the blow was that of a fist-size bullet, aimed directly at Laszlo's cheek. "H-Huh?!" Laszlo announced, taking the full brute of Zy's punch on his cheek, and was sent flying backwards across the diamond. He skidded across the gem-floor bed, eventually managing to jam his black blade into the ground to prevent himself from traveling any further. Laszlo could hear him, but he definitely didn't see him at that moment. Therefore, there was nothing more he could do than launch a full scale attack. He lifted his sword to the side of his body and swung it horizontally, sending a tsunami of flames that enshrouded the area in front of him. "Soru!" Now it was Zy's turn to move. She appeared in front of the blast, taking the brunt of the damage. More of her clothes were burned off as a result, but she didn't care by this point. It was already unsalvagable. With her arms disappearing from how fast they were moving, she would take out multiple small daggers, imbue them with Haki, and then throw them at Laszlo from only a few feet away. They weren't all intended to strike immediately. Others would bounce off of the walls from behind him and strike him from there. More would ricochet off the ceiling and rain down from above, and the rest would do the same from the floor. He would be completely surrounded by blades. "Tempesta di Coltelli!" "If it's not enough for you, then maybe I need to make it even hotter," Laszlo begun, slamming Shusui into the diamond, floor beneath him. "Shusui, rage! Let your temper overcome you, and breathe! Horo Horo no Mi--Shisui: Hinokami Kagura!!" There was hardly any delay in response as flames began to spill out from the edge of the blade, surrounding him in aura of blazing flames, imbued and blackened by the Haki of the infamous black blade. As the daggers struck the flames, they dissipated into nothing, disintegrating completely, as the flames slowly began to fill up the room, spreading across the diamond floors of the cavern. Lester reappeared next to Zy, giving her a knowing look before retreating towards the exit. As the flames continued to cover the surrounding area, Zy stood firm. Just in case, a layer of Haki covered her body, just a little bit of extra insurrance. "Let's use something that you can't burn up." As she bathed in the flames of Shisui, the sword still stick in the ground, she pointed at Laszlo's throat. "Tobu Shigan..." flames gathered around her own finger, "Ryu no Dangan!" And the flaming bullet carved its way throught the unfocused flames towards their target. Laszlo gripped the blade harder, twisting his hand against the hilt of the blade, spurring Shusui into action. The flames responded to his movement, as if commanded by something greater than just the twisting of his hands. The flames around him, the very same that spread throughout the cavern, rose from the floor beneath Laszlo's feat, summoning forth a wall of focused flames in front of him that clashed directly with the violent shigan of fire. His hair flung back from the pressure of the two infernos striking one another, yet his hands remained on his blade, focusing the entirety of his power and his command to ensure that his blade continued to generate the blackened flames throughout the cavern. "I'm not going to stop, so leave this place Zy! Otherwise, who knows. Maybe this entire cave will get swallowed up, and all the people here touring it too." Zy simply chuckled, still standing amidst his flames. "Are you serious? Why would I care about anything other than killing you!" Her arm turned black as she coated it in Haki. The red flames surrounding it turned white, their heat increasing exponentially. "Tobu Shigan "Ryu No Yari"!" Forcing her hand forward, with each finger pointed towards her target, the the white hot flames of the Power of the Dragon's Spirit flew towards her target. This was much stronger than her previous attack. It was akin to a lance with the strength to pierce any barrier. Laszlo huffed at Zy’s statement as she seemingly addressed his bluff about destroying the cavern and the people. As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn’t destroy such a historical place. It was against his morals! The very few morals that he seemed to possess. However, among him, it seemed that the agents of Cipher Pol held even less. But, he shouldn’t have even been surprised Zy’s statement. After all, the Cipher Pol was always chiefly responsible for the destabilization of nations, assassinations of monarchs and kings, and even the sabotage of water supplies which led to thousands upon thousands of deaths. Of course, Zy wouldn’t care about the destruction of the cavern or the people who inhabited it. He grabbed his blade, pulling Shusui from diamond-embedded floor, temporarily stopping the flames from spreading, yet not eliminating the flames that already filled the room that they inhabited. Laszlo gripped his sword with two hands, holding his blade desperately as he charged forward, his legs sheathed in Busoshoku Haki as he charged through his own fire. “Shusui! Show it to me. The legendary swordsman! Show me his power,” Laszlo called out, strengthening his grip as his sword, still spewing flames, shared with him the necessary information as he charged towards Zy’s own attack. He swing his blade, moving swiftly and powerfully, yet so reminiscent of the legendary samurai, Ryuma, as if he moved in the image of that man’s technique himself. The truth was, he did. Shusui was able to share with Laszlo its experiences, due to the powers of the Horo Horo no Mi, which allowed him to manifest the voice of the blade by giving it a physical spirit that he could interact with. This slash, the very same that he was prepared to unleash, was the slash the very same Ryuma once used to decapitate a dragon. Zy’s slash… His blade charged through her shigan-flamed attack, deflecting it into the ceiling of the cavern with enough force that it simply drilled through the ceiling, carrying itself up towards the atmosphere as if there was nothing involved. “Don’t like close combat, Zy? Is that why you use all those projectiles?” Laszlo smirked, changing his grip slightly, before establishing his pivot foot. He stepped forward, closing the distance between him and Zy nearly instantly, as if using the power of Soru, the very same that the Cipher Pol agents possessed. He swung his sword horizontally, intent on cleaving Zy in half by aiming directly for belly button, intent on forcing her to either leap, or duck to avoid his slice. "Tekkai "Buso"!" Her entire body stiffened to match nothing less than the hardness of iron, with her Haki reinforcing it even harder than that. The blade slammed into her side. She grunted in discomfort, yet her skin remained unbroken. Her hand, clad in Haki, flew down at the speed of her Shigan, not to attack her opponent in a lightning fast retaliation, but to grab into Laszlo's blade. Her muscles stiffened once again as her Tekkai anchored it in place, preventing him from simply wresting it out of her hand. It was then that Zy's plan came to fruition. From just off to the side, Lester had suddenly appeared, not just from his incredible speed, but from his temporary diminuative status as well. With his own Haki clad hand, he grabbed onto Shisui. "Keigen." He'd shrink the blade down to the side of a butter knife, forcing it to slide out of his hand. And before he could attempt to stop them, Lester used his free hand for a "sword" slash of his own. "Rante!" He quickly slashed his arm through the air, a compressed blade of air flying off from his person, aiming to slash the pirate across his chest. It wouldn't be quite as powerful as Rankyaku, but it would certainly be enough to do no less than stagger this pirate. The blade of air sliced across Laszlo's chest, ripping through his barren, white-tank top and drawing blood from a deep slash across his pectorals. Perhaps, in some other world, he could have dodged, but there was nothing more important to him than grabbing his blade. Therefore, he devoted the entirety of his time to grabbing his Shusui, now the size of a butter knife, allowing him to experience the memories that Ryuma held in his lifetime. As he pulled the Shusui back, he slashed downwards towards the ground, generating a wave of fire that exploded right in between them, the sheer force of the blast creating a dense smog of smoke and concussive shockwave in their immediate area. Zy and Lester were forced back a little, the power of the blade having decreased along with its size. They couldn’t help but be impressed by the strength of Shusui’s wielder, and the blade itself. But no matter how much smog he conjured up, he couldn’t hide from their Haki. They could see him plain as day. "Tobu Shigan!" Zy jabbed her finger in the air three times, aimed towards Laszlo's back. Regardless of how skilled a swordsman he may be, it was always difficult going from the extended reach of a katana to the small range of a knife. Laszlo attempted to swing backwards, but the injury he sustained earlier caused him to grimace slightly, delaying his actions enough for Zy's attack to jam directly into his back. He fell downwards onto the ground, slamming into the diamong floorbed. "Ah shit!" Lester followed soon afterward. With the speed of 'Soru ', he arrived right over Laszlo, slamming his foot down onto his back to keep him in place. Laszlo sat their, his body pressed against the floor. "Well, you fuckin' got me.....Too late to accept the offer?" Zy kneeled down next to him. Looking him in the eyes. "Just a little bit." With her fist clad in Haki, she delivered a swift blow to his face to knock him unconscious. And with that one blow, all the anger suddenly flooded out of her body, her eyes turning green once again. "Alright, get the cuffs on him." Lester looked at Zy for all of one second before immediately averting his eyes. "What?" Lester just pointed at her. She looked at herself, finally realizing the state she was in. "Oh... well, we have more clothes on the ship." Lester took off his jacket and handed it to her. She flashed him a smile before using it to cover her naked form. "Alright, let's head to Impel Down." Category:Role-Plays Category:Finished Role-Plays